Impact Of The Industrial Revolution In The Gilded Age

The Gilded Age takes place in the late 1800’s. The industrial revolution was great for the U.S. and the economy, bet when it comes to the people who were actually working this was a nightmare. It created horrible even dangerous working conditions for them. There were very little rules implemented by the government for employers to have a certain amount of pay and certain working conditions for their employees.

The rules that were in place, generally were not followed and the workers were usually stuck just doing whatever they’re employer said. Eventually enough workers were fed up with what they had to deal with on a daily basis, and so began an anarchy. There were many different types of anarchists with slightly different beliefs in the government, but one thing with all of them was constant and that was that something had to change with the government and labor laws. Through this the idea of unions were born and this scared business owners.

With all the unions and what they were about, the government and employers knew that eventually they would have to give in to their demands with wages, working conditions, and age conditions. If they didn’t they were going to go out of business because many people were on strike during this time. The benefits workers saw in these unions were huge.

They would receive more wages making it easier to live, better working conditions which reduced the risk of injury, they also saw an opportunity to have limited hours per week which would give them time to do other things or to spend time with their family if they had one. The industrial revolution was a great idea in theory, but cost many workers. In the end unions saved workers from working their lives away.

Like this:

14 thoughts on “Impact Of The Industrial Revolution In The Gilded Age”

The Industrial Revolution made our union what it is today. They worked hard for low pay and in dangerous conditions to get us where we are today. I can’t imagine working in poor conditions for barley any pay, leave alone not being able to spend time with family.

Industrial Revolution definitely made our unions what they are today. Paving the way for us to have better working conditions, good pay, and hours. I am a factory worker and I thank god for our union, because without them management would treat us any kind of way.

I can’t either! And to think they had to force kids to work to make more money for the family, it’s horrible! Not to mention, all the sanitation issues and diseases. You’re right, it’s very sad. But, it made our life the way it is today.

I could not imagine a world without certain laws demanding how much we work and what conditions we experience. These long hours and conditions caused many health problems, and prevented many people from having a normal life with their families.

I couldn’t image this either, it’s awful to think about. You bring up a good point mentioning the health and family problems that workers may have had. Especially since medicine was not as advanced then as it is today, and it most likely would have cost a lot to get medicine or see a doctor. Even then, workers would risk not being able to work or possibly giving their family whatever sickness they could have obtained.

During the industrial revolution, America saw rapid change and advancement in many fields, but arguably not in quality of life. Work transitioned from home based trades, such as a weaver or blacksmith, to company based work on a large scale. We became able to produce many more units of a product much quicker, but at cost. The work hours were long, jobs were dangerous, and pay was minimal. Employee rights were also absent. These facts of working life lead employees to band together to push for better conditions through labor unions. The changes these unions helped create form the basis for our labor laws today.

Imagine what working conditions would be like today if it wasn’t for the Industrial Revolution. We have all kind of rules put into place today, especially in factories. Many employees fear on going strike today. They fear that they will lose their jobs if they do. Unions can and still are very beneficial to some of the American workers today.

This great economy came at a ridiculous cost. The economy was so successful because of the cheap labor and bad working conditions. Sometimes great things come at large costs and people have to weigh the odds and determine if it is really worth it. Employers chose profits over people and feared unions and their ability to hurt their productivity and in turn, their profits. This is honestly something that can still be seem in some workplaces today, even though it is nowhere near to the same extent that it was then.

The fact that people were only paid a couple dollars for the day’s work of doing whatever the boss told them to do doesn’t sound pleasant at all, these days if the workforce was like that there would be a ton of families below the poverty line. So many families would be struggling to support themselves. I am glad the workforce changed to what it is today instead of the horrible conditions it was before.

I think you did amazing job with your blog this week. I agree that unions made life easier for workers. It made their environment easier to work in as well as much safer. I believe that the employers were scared that the workers would want better pay and safer conditions, that they couldn’t meet. I also agree, that the unions were for the best, even today it puts the workers first before the employer. Again great job with your blog this week.

Even though the Industrial Revolution was rough on not just the workers but their families as well, it was so important to the development of laws and requirements that were put in place today. I can not imagine either working in factories where I was always at risk of injury or even death. It would also be tough to provide for your family as you were being paid a very low wage for very tough work. This is probably what led to many people not having enough to eat and kids having to go starving. I also agree that unions were crucial to getting us to where we are at in the workplace today.